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If The Shoe Fits: Stop and Think

Friday, April 12th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Obviously, opportunity and entrepreneurs go together.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of opportunities that could serve as the basis for a company.

It is a wise entrepreneur who at least tries to consider the long-tern implications of the opportunity they choose.

Not just the financial potential, but the possible effects on society and the world.

While no one can see the future, there is one thing you can count on happening.

Humans will act the same way online as they do in the real world — only more so.

More so, because they can indulge their worst thoughts/desires with little-to-no chance of repercussions and a much broader reach.

Anything that has ever been done offline will be done — more so.

Political dirty tricks will get dirtier,  bullying will be more vicious, the haters will be more active, and on and on.

Could Mark Zukerberg have foreseen this when he started Facebook?

Maybe not.

Did he try?

Probably not.

Did he even stop to think?

Unlikely.

Does he think about it now?

Only to deny it.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If The Shoe Fits: Authentic Selves

Friday, April 5th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Last Friday we looked at how culture is based on values and how often the values claimed aren’t, in fact, authentic.

Values are one thing, but the whole authentic idea is overblown.

How many times have you heard “bring your authentic self to work (or wherever).

If you’re like most people you have multiple authentic selves.

Think about it, the self you show your spouse is different than the self you show your boss and both are different from the self your friends know.

Yet they are all authentic.

Meaning each self adheres to the same values.

For example, if one self is married and another self has a lover both selves are authentic, since their basic value system accepts cheating.

Look around, not just at the people you’re close to or see frequently, but at the names you see in the news.

Compare what they say/do in various situations and you’ll find you can figure out very quickly what their real authentic values are.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If The Shoe Fits: Culture and Values

Friday, March 29th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Pundits and investors of all kinds, from lone angels to major VCs, say that your company’s culture is critical to its success.

Therefore, the most important question founders should ask themselves is what are my values?

Not what you say out loud, or agree to in order to fit in, or because they are good talking points, or to be PC.

You need to be brutally honest, at least with yourself, because, in the long run, whatever your values truly are will out.

Mark Zuckerberg claimed he wanted to do good by connecting people.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to organize the world’s information and “not be evil.”

But, in the long run, their top core value became obvious, echoing Gordon Geko’s, “Greed is good.”

Also long term, Andrew Wilkinson’s 2015 words reflect his values, I’m not a unicorn, I’m a horse.

Culture is based on founder values and sooner or later the real ones do surface.

This is where being “your authentic self” trips up a lot of people, not just founders.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Guest Post: Leadership: A Turing Test for Bosses

Friday, March 22nd, 2019

https://www.thepinkhumanist.com/articles/330-life-of-alan-turing-examined-in-a-new-graphic-novel

This recent post from Wally Bock seemed like a great way to wrap up this week’s commentary about values and bosses.

Alan Turing made many contributions to the Allied effort in World War II and to the many fields that have coalesced into computer science. He’s best known among laypeople like me for his “Turing Test,” a test of whether a computer can exhibit intelligent behavior like a human being.

My question for you is: “Could you pass such a test?” If I watched you work for a few hours, would it be obvious that you were a human being and not some kind of AI-powered, cyborg-boss?

In my career I’ve seen too many bosses who couldn’t. They imagined their job as passing on instructions and enforcing regulations. One of their favorite phrases is “I have no choice …”

Most bosses aren’t that way. They may not get everything right, but it’s clear that they’re human beings struggling to do the right thing. That’s probably where you fit, but let’s check. Is it obvious that you’re a real human being or do you act like a walking, talking bunch of algorithms?

Do you take time to have frequent conversations with your team members where you do something more than just pass on directives?

Do you strive to be fair to everyone while you make adjustments for individual strengths, weaknesses, and preferences?

Do you argue for your team or team member when something comes down from above that’s wrong or unfair?

Do you help your team members grow, develop, and succeed?

Boss’s Bottom Line

Human bosses who act intelligently are the best for human beings. That means more than passing on instructions and enforcing rules and standards. Show your humanity by acknowledging the emotion in the workplace and by using both your brain and your heart

Image credit: HikingArtist

If The Shoe Fits: an Entrepreneur with Balls (Literally)

Friday, March 1st, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

It doesn’t matter which side you were on regarding the recent shutdown, because you were probably effected.

Maybe it was you, a relative or friend. Or maybe a friend or relative of a friend who couldn’t feed their kids or pay their mortgage/rent.

People were angry; some wrote letters, most unloaded online.

The more entrepreneurial (opportunistic) converge on Café Press.

But one entrepreneur went much further.

Greg Miller, founder of Neuticles, a company that sells testicular implants for neutered dogs so they appear unneutered, used his own product to make a statement.

As the shutdown has dragged on – it entered its 34th day Thursday – he is preparing to send his product to all 53 Senate Republicans, plus Vice President Mike Pence, with the message: ‘We are demanding that you gain testicular fortitude and have enclosed a pair of Neuticles to help achieve the necessity to stand up against the sole interests of this rogue president.”

Miller’s company, based in Oak Grove, Missouri, will spend around $13,000 on mailing plus the cost of the product.

He knows that sales are likely to take a hit from his actions, so why do it?

“I just want them to get some damn balls and think of America, not their political party.”

Male or female, entrepreneurs are known for being tough, in other words for having cojones, i.e., balls.

Greg Miller certainly does — in more ways than one.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If The Shoe Fits: Real or Not

Friday, February 15th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Why is it that  founders who start out by claiming they want to stand against evil, just connect people, give people a new way to earn, or in some way make the world a better place, so often morph, to be polite, into jerks?

Money? Power? Drinking their own media Kool-Aid?

All of the above?

Or is it that, as opposed to morphing, given the right circumstances, even if transient, they always were jerks?

https://www.facebook.com/stfd.shutthefrontdoor/photos/a.226003427428996/1821339914561998/?type=3&theater

People, especially in our age of self-branding, work hard creating their image, so when considering it, caveat emptor.

Because what you see ain’t necessarily what you get.

Hat tip to KG for sending me the quote.

Image credit: Shut The Front Door

 

 

 

If The Shoe Fits: Hans Jørgen Wiberg and Be My Eyes

Friday, February 8th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

I love the story of startup Be My Eyes, because it highlights an entrepreneur who really is changing the world and illustrates the good that comes from a lack of funds.

I read the story in the Lean Startup blog and thought it worth sharing.

“Be My Eyes is just a simple app that basically makes a video call between two persons (…) we have volunteers who sign up and say ‘Yes, I am available to help a blind person see something.’”

The volunteer presence adds an extra layer of independence to the visually impaired person’s life, rather than worrying that they are interrupting or imposing on someone.

All the volunteers do it look at their screen and tell the caller what they see, such as the ingredients in a recipe.

Be My Eyes boasts a global network of volunteers speaking a variety of languages and is always recruiting more.

The great thing is the volunteers can respond from wherever they are and the calls only take a few minutes. If they can’t take the call, no problem, since the system calls multiple people for each request.

Be My Eyes has a number of programs to encourage company involvement, including a way to provide product support to vision impaired/blind customers. This is a great opportunity for startups that want to give back, but have neither time or money to donate.

As to the advantage of minimal funding, it kept them from the typical tech error of over-engineering and forced them to keep the app very simple. Good move.

They had an overly long list of features they wanted to put into the app in the beginning, but which lack of funds prevented. (…)  Be My Eyes hasn’t had many requests for all the “brilliant ideas” they had in the beginning. “So maybe it was a really good thing we didn’t overload the app.”

Be it as an individual or involving your family, friends or company be someone’s eyes, you’ll be amazed at the difference doing so will make in your life, as well as theirs.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Jeff Bezos: Devil or Angel?

Friday, February 1st, 2019

Jeff Bezos’ reach or, to some people, tentacles, is extensive. Just how extensive is apparent in the infographic below. It is yet more proof that one picture is worth a thousand words.

In case it’s not his empire that interests you, but his earnings, then your should read How much Jeff Bezos makes per minute.

You shouldn’t miss a look at the flip side to see the people who power the Amazon piece of his pie.

So. Devil or Angel?

My own opinion is a mix of both.

In other words, human.

Image credit: Visual Capitalist

If The Shoe Fits: Founders and Fools

Thursday, January 24th, 2019

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Neither market cap nor valuation are cause for celebration.

Both are as ephemeral as morning fog.

Ask Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella his reaction when Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world for a few months last fall.

“I’m not one of those guys who says, ‘let’s celebrate some market cap measure.’ That’s just not stable.”

What does interest him?

The Microsoft-generated ecosystem.

“Our business model is about creating more surplus outside us. We will only be long-term success when the people are making more money around us,” he said.

This dovetails with what Bill Gates also believes, i.e., a company’s success is defined when the total value of the ecosystem around it is more valuable than the company that created it.

That ecosystem seems non-existent to the majority of founders of gig economy businesses, dating apps, social media, etc.

Or perhaps it’s just those with venture funding who are focused on growth at all costs.

That said, this post is dedicated to the founders who focus on building sustainable businesses/ecosystems.

As opposed to the fools who chase investment in lieu of revenue, celebrate valuation based on their last round of funding, and don’t care about ecosystem beyond its PR value.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If The Shoe Fits: Startups, Millennials and the Future

Friday, December 14th, 2018

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

For years the media has been proclaiming that the great majority of young people want to be entrepreneurs or work for a startup, as opposed to a larger/older company, because startups were “cool.”

Now it looks like their ardor is what’s cool, as in cooled off.

Research suggests entrepreneurial activity has declined among Millennials. The share of people under 30 who own a business has fallen to almost a quarter-century low, according to a 2015 Wall Street Journal analysis of Federal Reserve data. (…) Two years ago, EIG’s president and co-founder, John Lettieri, testified before the U.S. Senate, “Millennials are on track to be the least entrepreneurial generation in recent history.”

What changed?

Maybe they learned that wanting to and doing it are very different. That they will work far harder for themselves, even if they are well-funded, or that startups fail  far more often than they succeed (90% vs 10%).

A survey of 1,200 Millennials conducted in 2016 by the Economic Innovation Group found that more Millennials believed they could have a successful career by staying at one company and attempting to climb the ladder than by founding a new one.

But maybe there is something else going on.

Maybe they have figured out that the world doesn’t need another social network / dating app / review site / etc.

Maybe investors have realized that monetizing through ads isn’t a good road to sustainable profitability, considering the push for more European-style privacy.

Or maybe, just maybe, reality has reared its ugly head and they’ve figured out they don’t have enough experience or know enough to create enterprise solutions for real-world needs.

Matt Krisiloff, the former Y Combinator executive, added that the opportunities “to start compelling start-ups,” for college students without industry-specific knowledge, “has vastly shrunk.”

Maybe they aren’t all looking for a safe harbor in the next downturn (there aren’t any), but for the experience that will ground their startup in their 40s, 50s and beyond.

What they found is that the average age of a startup founder is about 41.9 years of age among all startups that hire at least one employee, and among the top 0.1 percent of highest-growth startups, that average age moves up to 45 years old. Those ages are taken from the time of the founding of the company.

Maybe our media-inspired view of entrepreneurs is a reflection of the warped views of Silicon Valley as engendered by VCs.

VCs believe they have “pattern recognition” abilities that they simply don’t have. Instead, they rely on suppositions and stereotypes that don’t match the underlying data on startup success. The same reason why older founders are ignored by the ecosystem is the same reason why women and other minorities struggle in the Valley: It’s really not about what you build, but what you look like while building it.

Maybe the entrepreneurs of the future will look more like our real world in all its diverse, messy glory.

And a final “maybe.”

Maybe there is room to hope.

Image credit: HikingArtist

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